Broderick Crawford

Infobox actor
name =Broderick Crawford


imagesize =200px
caption =Crawford in "Black Angel"
birthname =William Broderick Crawford
birthdate =December 9, 1911
birthplace =Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
deathdate =April 26, 1986
deathplace =Rancho Mirage, California
academyawards =Best Actor
1949 "All the King's Men"
goldenglobeawards =Best Actor - Drama
1949 "All the King's Men"
awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame
6901 Hollywood Boulevard
6734 Hollywood Boulevard

William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 - April 26, 1986) was an American Academy Award-winning actor.

Biography

Early life

Crawford was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick, who were both vaudeville performers; his mother had a minor career in Hollywood comedies.

Career

Crawford was stereotyped early in his career as a rough-talking tough guy, frequently playing the villain. He gained fame in 1937, when he starred as Lenny in "Of Mice and Men" on Broadway. He moved to Hollywood afterward, but did not get the role in the film version. (The role instead went to Lon Chaney, Jr., who was himself thereafter typecast as a hulking brute.)

In 1949, Crawford was cast as Willie Stark, a character based on Louisiana politician Huey Long in "All the King's Men", for which Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The following year he starred in another smash hit film, "Born Yesterday".

Despite these successes, Crawford's career suffered because of his typecasting and also his own sometimes belligerent personality. In 1955, prominent television producer Frederick Ziv decided the Academy Award winner was worth taking a chance on and offered Crawford the lead role as "Chief" Dan Mathews in the police drama "Highway Patrol". This program became highly popular during its four-year (1955-1959) period of first-run syndication and remained a fixture on local stations for many years afterward. The role revived Crawford's career, and he concentrated on television for most of the remainder of his life. Until the mid-1960s, many of his television roles were for Ziv, who was willing to accept the occasional challenges in working with Crawford. Years later, Ziv matter-of-factly told an interviewer, "To be honest, Broderick could be a handful!"

Crawford was also typecast in his television roles. He usually played a gruff but compassionate and fearless good guy. He appeared in very few American-based motion pictures after 1955, though he continued to accept occasional roles in European made films. Playing on the stereotypical tough cop of his famous TV role, he wore the trademark fedora and black suit when he made a memorable appearance as guest host of a 1977 episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" that included a spoof of"Highway Patrol" featuring Dan Aykroyd, a longtime fan of the original show.

Death

Crawford died in 1986 at the age of 74 in Rancho Mirage, California, after suffering a stroke. He is one of a handful of performers who have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- a star for motion pictures at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard and another star for television at 6734 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Features

*"Woman Chases Man" (1937)
*"Start Cheering" (1938)
*"Ambush" (1939)
*"Sudden Money" (1939)
*"Undercover Doctor" (1939)
*"Beau Geste" (1939)
*"Island of Lost Men" (1939)
*"The Real Glory" (1939)
*"Eternally Yours" (1939)
*"Slightly Honorable" (1940)
*"I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" (1940)
*"When the Daltons Rode" (1940)
*"Seven Sinners" (1940)
*"Trail of the Vigilantes" (1940)
*"The Texas Rangers Ride Again" (1940)
*"The Black Cat" (1941)
*"Tight Shoes" (1941)
*"Badlands of Dakota" (1941)
*"South of Tahiti" (1941)
*"North to the Klondike" (1942)
*"Butch Minds the Baby" (1942)
*"Larceny, Inc." (1942)
*"Broadway" (1942)
*"Keeping Fit" (1942)
*"Men of Texas" (1942)
*"Sin Town" (1942)
*"The Runaround" (1946)
*"Black Angel" (1946)
*"Slave Girl" (1947)
*"The Flame" (1947)
*"The Time of Your Life" (1948)
*"Sealed Verdict" (1948)
*"Bad Men of Tombstone" (1949)
*"A Kiss in the Dark" (1949)
*"Night Unto Night" (1949)
*"All the King's Men" (1949)
*"Cargo to Capetown" (1950)
*"Convicted" (1950)
*"Born Yesterday" (1950)
*"Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards" (1951)
*"The Mob" (1951)
*"Scandal Sheet" (1952)
*"Lone Star" (1952)
*"Stop, You're Killing Me" (1952)
*"Last of the Comanches" (1953)
*"The Last Posse" (1953)
*"Night People" (1954)
*"Human Desire" (1954)
*"Down Three Dark Streets" (1954)
*"Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Mexico" (1954)
*"Man on a Bus" (1955)
*"New York Confidential" (1955)
*"Big House, U.S.A." (1955)
*"Not as a Stranger" (1955)
*"Il bidone" (1955)
*"The Fastest Gun Alive" (1956)
*"Between Heaven and Hell" (1956)
*"The Decks Ran Red" (1958)
*"Goliath and the Dragon" (1960)
*"Convicts 4" (1962)
*"The Castilian" (1962)
*"No temas a la ley" (1963)
*"Square of Violence" (1963)
*"A House Is Not a Home" (1964)
*"Up from the Beach" (1965)
*"Mutiny at Fort Sharp" (1966)
*"Kid Rodelo" (1966)
*"The Oscar" (1966)
*"The Texican" (1966)
*"Red Tomahawk" (1967)
*"The Vulture" (1967)
*"The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go" (1970)
*"Ransom Money" (1970)
*"Hell's Bloody Devils" (1970)
*"The Naughty Cheerleader" (1970)
*"Gregorio and His Angel" (1970)
*"Embassy (film)" (1972)
*"The Candidate" (1972)
*"Terror in the Wax Museum" (1973)
*"Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood" (1976)
*"Proof of the Man" (1977)
*"The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover" (1977)
*"A Little Romance" (1979)
*"Harlequin" (1980)
*"There Goes the Bride" (1980)
*"The Uppercrust" (1982)
*"Liar's Moon" (1982)
*"Guerilla Strike Force" (1985)

External links

*imdb|0002024
*

* [http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=208&format=tv&theme=guide&from=wiki Watch Highway Patrol]
* [http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=794&format=movie&theme=guide&from=wiki Broderick Crawford in Il Bidone]
* [http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=161301 Profile] @ Turner Classic Movies

###@@@KEY@@@### succession box
title = NYFCC Award for Best Actor
years = 1949
for" All the King's Men"
before= Laurence Olivier
for "Hamlet"
after = Gregory Peck
for "Twelve O'Clock High"

Persondata
NAME= Crawford, Broderick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Crawford, William Broderick
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actor
DATE OF BIRTH=December 9, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH=April 26, 1986
PLACE OF DEATH=Rancho Mirage, California